Emerald
by Shadowdust258
Summary: Before Sansa is born, a prophecy comes to light about a beautiful woman who will reduce Westeros to devastation and ruin. An AU fanfiction based on the legend of 'Deirdre of the Sorrows'.


**Just to clarify, the romantic relationship here is between Sansa Stark and Trystane Martell. He didn't show up under the character list, so I went with Catelyn as the second character because she is the POV character for the first two chapters.**

**Enjoy! :)**

The moon was full, sweeping light through the window, as Catelyn Stark sat on an oak chair beside her son's featherbed, imagining the man he would grow up to be. Strong and noble like his father, she hoped. Yes, she thought, as she smoothed his auburn curls away from his forehead, he would be a wonderful man indeed.

A son to be proud of.

Laying one milk-white hand upon her growing belly, she began to wonder about the new life growing inside her. Her instinct told her that she was carrying a baby girl this time, and she trusted in that instinct. Her own lady mother had correctly guessed the genders of both her daughters before they were born, or so her father had once told her.

A daughter would be a lovely thing, but Catelyn Stark longed for a big family, full of sons to please her husband. Though she knew Ned would adore any daughter as much as he would a son.

Raising herself slowly from the chair, she bent to press a gentle kiss to her son's forehead. His steady breathing was like music to her ears, and she prayed every single day for an easy birth with her second child. Having lost her own mother to the trials of childbirth, Catelyn knew she was taking a risk every time she took to the birthing bed. The thought of leaving her son motherless, like she had been, drove a spike of pain through her heart, so she tried not to dwell on such things. She tried to imagine the future, where she and Ned would sit in the Godswood surrounded by their happy, playing children.

But even as Lady Stark forced herself to think these positive thoughts, she could not help this intense feeling of foreboding that had settled in the pit of her stomach, and it would not relent.

She could sense that something terrible was going to happen.

Feeling her new child kick for the first time, Catelyn grazed her fingers across the spot from the outside, and said a prayer that all the badness in the world would not find its way near her family.

* * *

Catelyn strolled at a leisurely pace down the corridor towards the Great Hall, although that wasn't saying much as a leisurely pace was all she could manage in her current condition.

Lost in her own thoughts about the future, Catelyn did not notice how unusual the castle sounded on this night, until she was just about to enter the hall. As her fingers touched the cold, brass handle of the door, Catelyn was struck by the sounds coming from within, and how different they seemed to any other night, any other night just like tonight.

The murmuring of voices grew louder and louder, as if a discussion or argument was getting out of hand. These were not the noises of boisterous, merry men drinking their fill of ale, and singing songs about the victories of 'Robert's Rebellion', as she had become accustomed to since her arrival in Winterfell. This was something new, and Catelyn felt a fresh wave of foreboding wash over her as she swallowed thickly and opened the door.

Immediately, the volume of the voices increased, and Lady Stark was almost afraid of what was happening in the room. Was there to be another war? Is that what had created such an outcry?

Her eyes darted the room, searching for her husband, searching for Ned. When her eyes met his, relief flooded through her body. He was safe. Their children were safe. That was all that mattered.

The Lady of Winterfell made her way through the crowd towards her noble husband, startled as the mass of people fell silent the moment their eyes fell upon her. Feeling a blush creep up on her cheeks, Catelyn persevered, a million thoughts swirling through her head. Had she done something wrong? Insulted some Northern custom? Nothing came to mind, no matter how hard she racked her brain.

She glanced at a couple of the men as she walked past, and was unprepared for what she found there. Indeed, she found it hard to miss the distaste in their expressions and the hatred embedded in their sneers, the sheer force of it causing her to gasp.

And she did not like the way their eyes flickered to her belly.

She did not like it at _all_.

Draping a hand across her bump, Catelyn approached her husband. His attention was not focused on her though. Following the line of his sight, Catelyn saw where his gaze was directed. Maester Luwin, the man who had pulled her first born from her body and was due to deliver her new baby in just a few moons, was kneeling on the floor in front of Ned.

Glancing at her husband, Catelyn found she could not make any sense of the situation. The faces of both men held a plethora of emotions that Catelyn could not even begin to decipher.

"Ned?" Catelyn whispered, reaching out to touch his arm. When his face turned towards her, it was almost like his eyes didn't recognise her. "Ned, what is it? What's wrong?"

Her husband didn't respond. Instead, he turned back to the man on the ground before him. "Maester Luwin, you _must_ stop this nonsense," he warned. His tone was commanding, although Catelyn was sure she could detect something else in his voice. It was almost as if he were begging the Maester to stop whatever it was that he was doing.

"I wish that I could," the Maester replied, and Cat could see that he meant what he said. Tears threatened to spill from the old Maester's eyes, and Cat was compelled to rush forward to comfort him and pull him back on his feet.

"You heard the Maester," a voice cried from the back of the crowd. "The child must die."

Catelyn could not help the small cry of horror that escaped her.

Surely, they were not talking about her baby.

Surely, they were not talking about the daughter she didn't even know.

"We should cut it out right now, and be done with it," Roose Bolton snarled.

Ned's arm shot out in front of Catelyn, a warning that if they wanted to harm his child then they'd have to go through him first. "If any man so much as lays a finger on my wife or my child, the cost will be his head." Lady Stark had never seen her husband so vicious.

The lady felt her husband grip her arm tightly in his grasp, so tightly it hurt, though she did not even think to complain, and he escorted her towards the exit.

Before he could open the door the Maester spoke once again. "I have seen it in my dreams, Lord Stark. This child will bring ruin and devastation to all of Westeros. I have sent a raven to King's Landing. The king is coming." His voice broke, and he choked down a sob. "I'm so sorry, my lord."

The tears that had threatened to overflow earlier from Maester Luwin's eyes now fell freely.

Catelyn felt tears prickling her own eyes even though she hadn't the slightest notion what was going on.

All, she knew was that her family was in danger, and she would do anything to protect them.


End file.
